Monday, 2 March 2015

Darkest Day.

It's alive! Well... almost. The third collection of stories from Dark Minds Press is almost with us. April 1st is the date we're targeting to release the new book which will contain twelve stories on the theme of crossing a border. An open submission resulted in some great stories passing before our eyes and some hard decisions had to be made in choosing the final selection but those that did make it into the book absolutely deserve to be there with the authors embracing the theme and providing their own distinctive takes on it.
The cover has been created by Mark West (alongside some back seat driving from myself) who also has a story in the collection and captures the feel - and theme - of the book perfectly.
It's been three years since our last anthology Darker Minds and, whilst that might seem like an unseemly headlong rush by Harper Lee, it feels a long time so it's great that momentum is building again. Thanks to all the authors for their patience...
Three really is the magic number. This is our third publication and, as already mentioned, comes three years after our last book. Coincidentally, three authors appear in Darkest Minds who have featured in all three books - Stephen Bacon, Benedict Jones and Clayton Stealback. Ooh, spooky... Here's hoping we manage to sell more than three copies.
Dark Minds Press arose from the flames of the now defunct Horror Writers forum (amongst whose regular contributors was a bloke called Joe Mynhardt - I wonder what ever happened to him..?) and has quietly carved out its own little niche within the small press world. I'm proud of the two books we've already released and am equally as proud of Darkest Minds. I've already had some discussions with my partner in crime Ross Warren about where we take things next and hopefully we'll be moving in a direction which will look at horror from a different perspective...
Anyway, I've had a great time working on Darkest Minds, working with Mark on the cover and with the authors whose stories I had the pleasure of editing. All that remains is to give the TOC (final order still to be decided) by way of whetting everyone's appetites.

It Came From The Ground by Stephen Bacon Walking The Borderlines by Tracy Fahey The Catalyst by Gary Fry... Bothersome by Andrew Hook Under Occupation by Tom Johnstone Going South To Meet The Devil by Benedict J. Jones Vacation by Glen Krisch Refugees by Robert Mammone The 18 by Ralph Robert Moore The Great Divide by Clayton Stealback The Sea In Darkness Calls by David Surface Time Waits... by Mark West